It begins with the pain. A 2011 study by the Institute of Medicine suggests that one in three Americans “suffer from chronic pain.” For Coloradan Melissa Morris the pain began after C-section childbirth. Her doctor prescribed Percocet, and even the…
‘Don’t shoot! You’re all getting A’s!’
What if campus carry is simply the most dangerous of an unceasing set of classroom distractions, existing alongside tweets, texts, Google, Wikipedia and Facebook, diversions that thwart both instruction and provocation, disengaging students from ideas that might form or re-form them?
Churches are struggling: Should government help?
Do numerical, financial and cultural declines compel churches to seek expanded assistance from the secular government? As culture-privilege deteriorates, does government-privilege become increasingly essential?
History, the Church and sexuality: The final exam
My “HIS 502 Intro to Christian History” class took their final examination this week: Three essay questions, choose 2, three hours. One of the questions was as follows: Jesus said: “At the resurrection, they will neither marry nor be given…
American religion post-Easter: The permanent transition continues
This Easter, the New York Times’ Sunday Review section was packed with op-ed columns related to American religion — more specifically American Christianity. Here’s a small summary. Nicholas Kristof interviewed former president and perpetual Baptist-Sunday-school-teacher Jimmy Carter (Carter even taught…
‘Lord, if you had been here’: Confronting the absence of God
“Lord, if you had been here my brother would not have died.” That’s what Jesus’ friends Mary and Martha said to him on separate encounters after their brother Lazarus had expired in Bethany where Jesus was nowhere to be found.
American exceptionalism at a crossroads?
Americans agree that national identity is in trouble but clearly disagree on what that identity is or might be. Nowhere is that more evident than in faith communities.
Pontificate with caution (or not at all)
We all pontificate, those times when we “speak or express opinions in a pompous or dogmatic way.” Like the pastor who entered the pulpit one Sunday and declared: “I had a great sermon on humility for today. But the crowd…
Is America facing a socio-spiritual plague?
This week, the Huffington Post reported bomb threats against Jewish community centers in 10 states. Sixty-seven such incidents occurred at 56 Jewish centers in 27 states since 2017 began. This week, the Winston-Salem Journal detailed a local meeting where the…
Splitting churches right and left
Several years ago I put a self-imposed moratorium on employing the term “separation of church and state.” When I wrote the book Baptist Ways: A History, I don’t think I referenced the phrase unless citing its use in the Baptist…
Vintage Jesus
“They have no wine,” his mother said to the Son of God, when the cabernet ran out, at the wedding in Cana of Galilee, on the edge of the kingdom of God. But Jesus of Nazareth wasn’t buying it. “Woman,”…
Liquid modernity: Churchly challenges in 2017 and beyond
In liquid modern life there are no permanent bonds and any that we take up for a time must be tied loosely so that they can be untied again as quickly, and as effortlessly as possible, when circumstances change. Those…
A wind-up Jesus
The week before Christmas, I received a small package from minister-friends in eastern North Carolina. It contained the sage-looking, plastic-action figure pictured below. The enclosed card read: “A gift for you from two wise men in the East. Maybe you…
‘Be subject,’ but be careful
¨Let every person be subject to the governing authorities for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists authority resists what God has appointed, and those who resist…